CalEPA Secretary Rodriquez expresses support for Ontario’s action on cap-and-trade

SACRAMENTO – California Secretary for Environmental Protection Matthew Rodriquez issued the following statement of support for Ontario’s commitment to adopt a cap-and-trade system to fight climate change:

“Ontario is demonstrating the vital leadership role that North American provinces and states are playing in our collective fight to curb climate change. As California’s experience has shown, cap-and-trade is an effective system for reducing greenhouse gas pollution while fostering innovation and growing a low-carbon economy. This important step reinforces our already strong relationship with Ontario, and we look forward to working with them to ensure their success.”

Launched in 2012, California’s cap-and-trade program is one of a suite of measures adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32), the state’s landmark climate change law.

Cap-and-trade is a market-based system that sets a limit, or “cap,” on greenhouse gas emissions. Regulated companies comply either by directly reducing emissions or by purchasing emission allowances from more efficient companies or the state, thereby reducing the costs of compliance, giving companies flexibility and spurring innovation.

Funds obtained by the state through the sale of allowances are invested to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this fiscal year alone, more than $870 million in funding was budgeted for a wide variety of emissions reduction programs.

Last year, California linked its cap-and-trade system with Quebec’s program, enabling allowances and offset credits to be exchanged between participants in the two jurisdictions’ programs. The first joint auction was held in November.

Additionally, California has partnered with British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, as part of the Pacific Coast Collaborative, to align climate change policies, including putting a price on carbon. And last year, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed an agreement with Mexico committing the two jurisdictions to cooperate in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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